The Functional Consequences of Biodiversity

Empirical Progress and Theoretical Extensions (MPB-33)

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By: David Tilman (Editor), Ann P. Kinzig (Editor), Stephen Pacala (Editor)

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Published: 17th February 2002

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Does biodiversity influence how ecosystems function? Might diversity loss affect the ability of ecosystems to deliver services of benefit to humankind? Ecosystems provide food, fuel, fiber, and drinkable water, regulate local and regional climate, and recycle needed nutrients, among other things. An ecosyste's ability to sustain functioning may depend on the number of species residing in the ecosystem--its biological diversity--but this has been a controversial hypothesis. There are many unanswered questions about how and why changes in biodiversity could alter ecosystem functioning. This volume, written by top researchers, synthesizes empirical studies on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and extends that knowledge using a novel and coordinated set of models and theoretical approaches.

These experimental and theoretical analyses demonstrate that functioning usually increases with biodiversity, but also reveals when and under what circumstances other relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning might occur. It also accounts for apparent changes in diversity-functioning relationships that emerge over time in disturbed ecosystems, thereby addressing a major controversy in the field. The volume concludes with a blueprint for moving beyond small-scale studies to regional ones--a move of enormous significance for policy and conservation but one that will entail tackling some of the most fundamental challenges in ecology.

In addition to the editors, the contributors are Juan Armesto, Claudia Neuhauser, Andy Hector, Clarence Lehman, Peter Kareiva, Sharon Lawler, Peter Chesson, Teri Balser, Mary K. Firestone, Robert Holt, Michel Loreau, Johannes Knops, David Wedin, Peter Reich, Shahid Naeem, Bernhard Schmid, Jasmin Joshi, and Felix Schlapfer.

"An exciting, timely, and unique book by a powerful team of authors. No other text competes with it. It will be the standard reference on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning for the next five, even ten years."--John H. Lawton, Chief Executive, Natural Environment Research Council, United Kingdom
"This book, written by superb authors, fills a major need in that it unites a discussion of pioneering research on the role of biodiversity in ecosystem function and relates these experiments to a common theoretical framework. The idea of bringing to bear a standardized and commonly accepted ecosystem function model on the biodiversity question is ingenious and of great value."--Peter Kareiva, Lead Scientist, The Nature Conservancy
"This exceptionally well-edited book summarizes, successfully, our current knowledge on the ecosystem functioning of biodiversity. It does much more, however: through the clever use of a standard model to explore various aspects of the issue, it greatly extends our understanding. The authors, who are all at the top of their fields, provide a wonderfully creative and useful analysis that goes a long way to explaining the true nature of the controversy that has plagued the field in the past couple of years. The Functional Consequences of Biodiversity provides a well-marked path for future work."--Harold Mooney, Stanford University

Preface	p. xiii
List of Contributors	p. xix
List of Figures	p. xxi
List of Tables	p. xxv
Opening Remarks	p. 1
Empirical Progress
Biodiversity, Composition, and Ecosystem Processes: Theory and Concepts	p. 9
Introduction	p. 9
Definitions of Diversity	p. 11
Diversity, Productivity, and Resource Dynamics	p. 15
Diversity and Stability	p. 29
Summary	p. 39
Acknowledgments	p. 41
Experimental and Observational Studies of Diversity, Productivity, and Stability	p. 42
Diversity and Stability	p. 43
Diversity, Productivity, and Nutrient Dynamics	p. 49
New Results from the Cedar Creek Biodiversity Experiment	p. 53
Summary and Synthesis	p. 67
Acknowledgments	p. 70
Biodiversity and the Functioning of Grassland Ecosystems: Multi-Site Comparisons	p. 71
Introduction	p. 71
The Biodepth Project	p. 72
Summary of the Biodepth Results	p. 89
Comparisons with Related Studies	p. 89
Summary	p. 94
Acknowledgments	p. 95
Autotrophic-Heterotrophic Interactions and Their Impacts on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning	p. 96
Introduction	p. 96
Fundamentals	p. 98
Fundamental Trophic Structure	p. 101
Heterotrophic Diversity and Ecosystem Functioning	p. 101
Implications for Autotroph-Only Models	p. 112
Discussion	p. 114
Empirical Evidence for Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relationships	p. 120
Introduction	p. 120
Plant Diversity Effects on Ecosystem Functioning	p. 123
Biodiversity Effects among Trophic Levels	p. 140
Designing Empirical Studies to Measure Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relationships	p. 141
Acknowledgments	p. 150
The Transition from Sampling to Complementarity	p. 151
Conclusions	p. 165
Theoretical Extensions
Introduction to Theory and the Common Ecosystem Model	p. 169
The Common Ecosystem Model	p. 171
Summary of the Basic Model	p. 174
Successional Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning	p. 175
Introduction	p. 175
The Successional Niche in a Simple Mechanistic Ecosystem Model	p. 179
Competition-Colonization in a Simple Mechanistic Ecosystem Model	p. 193
Conclusions	p. 212
Environmental Niches and Ecosystem Functioning	p. 213
Introduction	p. 213
Environmental Niches	p. 215
Ecosystem Functioning	p. 223
Discussion	p. 237
Acknowledgments	p. 244
Appendix	p. 245
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: The Role of Trophic Interactions and the Importance of System Openness	p. 246
Introduction	p. 246
The Sampling Effect Model and Community Assembly	p. 247
Importance of Trophic Complexity and System Openness	p. 248
Toward an Ecosystem Model with Trophic Interactions	p. 250
Discussion	p. 256
Conclusions	p. 259
Acknowledgments	p. 262
Applications and Future Directions
Linking Soil Microbial Communities and Ecosystem Functioning	p. 265
Introduction	p. 265
Challenges in Linking Microbial Communities and Ecosystem Functioning	p. 266
Linking Microbial Community Composition and Ecosystem Functioning: A Review of Concepts and Models	p. 271
Timeline of Microbial Response: Conceptual Model of Microbial Role in Ecosystem Functioning	p. 278
Conclusions and Future Research Needs	p. 285
Acknowledgments	p. 287
Appendix	p. 287
How Relevant to Conservation Are Studies Linking Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning?	p. 294
Introduction	p. 294
Conservation Philosophies and Ecological Science	p. 295
Studies of Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relationships: Origins and Recent Critiques	p. 298
Four Unresolved Issues	p. 301
Relating Biodiversity Theory and Experiments to Losses in Biodiversity Caused by Humans	p. 308
Acknowledgments	p. 313
Looking Back and Peering Forward	p. 314
References	p. 331
Index	p. 359
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 9780691088228
ISBN-10: 0691088225
Series: Monographs in Population Biology
Audience: Tertiary; University or College
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 392
Published: 17th February 2002
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: US
Dimensions (cm): 21.6 x 14.0 x 2.44
Weight (kg): 0.48